New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday expressed himself against leakage of telephone conversations tapped for investigations but felt "some of it is inevitable". He was replying to queries from media about his stand on whether the tapes between lobbyist Nira Radia and others should have been brought to public domain.
He was replying to queries from media about his stand on whether the tapes between lobbyist Nira Radia and others should have been brought to public domain.

"See what was recorded was a conversation of a person suspected to have violated tax laws. Now we were not recording the other end. We were recording one end and it so happened that the other end people`s conversation were recorded," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function to give away awards to Small and Medium Enterprises.

"But I am afraid when there is major scam or a major tax violation, if such conversations are recorded, I don`t think anyone should leak it out. But, I am afraid, some of this is inevitable," he said.

He rejected reports that his ministry had set up a probe into the leakage of tapes.

On corruption and whether it was hampering the corporate growth, Chidambaram said "I don`t think you need to be worried. Its sad that there has been some bad patches but as Professor (Jagdish) Bhagwati said yesterday that let`s not exaggerate corruption.
"Corruption is an issue, it must be addressed, it must be nipped in the bud and anyone who is found corrupt must be punished. But I don`t think you should allow yourself to be drowned in this cacophony that everything is corrupt and everybody is corrupt," he said.